Today In Wyoming's History: March 10. Daylight Savings Time

And the day in which those, who on the evening prior, received the promise that "no, I won't be hard to wake up" have been told a fib yet again, as those who must be awakened transfer their anger and wrath about the early arrival of the dawn to the human messenger.

Postscript:

I don't know if its a product of age, but I find it increasingly difficult to adjust to either end of Daylight Savings Time, and as a consequence, I'm not so fond of it.

I used to be able to very easily switch from one time to another, but now I invariably wake up early when we go forward in the Fall. I've been waking up earlier and earlier in recent weeks anyway, but I really don't want to start routinely getting up at 4:00. But now, I'm wide awake at that time.

I really wonder about the value of Daylight Savings Time in this modern age. Is there one? I'd be just as happy if we chose to hence forth forgo it. Outside of North America, do other nations have it?

For whatever reason, I've been finding myself waking up at 4:00 a lot recently, so this "fall back" season is really the pits.

Frankly, I think the entire Daylight Savings Time thing has long ago lost whatever value it ever had, if it ever had one. I wish we'd knock it off and just keep the time straight. I'm skeptical that it ever really worked the way it was intended to anyhow.

There's debate on whose ideal Daylight Savings Time was in the first place. Some attribute it, in modern times, to a New Zealander who advocated so as to be able to have more time to pursue his hobby of bug collecting, which he did in the evening. Others attribute it to an Englishman who liked to golf, and who lamented how so many Londoners had to sleep through part of the day. Some even blame Ben Franklin, failing to understand that his suggestion didn't receive implementation anywhere and was more of an observation on Paris life, than a real suggestion. Indeed, in that era, adjusting the time would have made very little sense.

What is clear is that the Germans foisted this on the world during World War One, thereby putting it in the same category as Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and Poison Gas in my mind. This was to allow more daylight hours for industrial workers and an attendant fuel savings, somehow (probably less dark hours at work). The Allied nations followed suit. Following the Great War, not all of them went back to natural time.

United Cigar Company poster urging people to write Congress to pass a Daylight Savings bill. Why this company cared about this, I have not a clue. One more reason, in my view, to disapprove of the tobacco companies.

The U.S. went to Daylight Savings Time in March, 1918, when we also adopted standard time zones. Adopting time zones made sense, and perhaps Daylight Savings Time did in the context of the war. Americans, however, hated Daylight Savings Time and Congress abolished it, overriding President Wilson's veto of the repealing act, after World War One. It was a local option thereafter, except during World War Two when it was re-instituted on a national level. In 1966, Congress brought it back, but did allow states to opt out. Exempting out of it is obviously a problem in a country with interstate business travel as the norm, and only Hawaii and Arizona have done so over a long period, although some other states have toyed with it.

I know that opting out my state is impossible, but I wish it would. The purpose of this law has long passed, and adjusting to time changes is a pain.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

On This Day In Wyoming History

In addition to being the frequent blogger here, I'm also the author of On This Day In Wyoming History, a book cataloging the daily history of Wyoming. More on that book can be discovered by following the link.

I'm also the author of a number of articles that have been published by various journals, including The Wyoming Lawyer and Rural Heritage. Topics of my published articles range from legal and agricultural topics to historical topics.